Markatron84

Look, I've had good times with Halo. Played 1-4, Reach and ODST. Played them all again in co-op when the wife got into them. We fell off 5 probably about halfway through it though, and by the time campaign co-op came to Infinite, we kinda didn't care; we played a bit of it but abandoned it pretty quickly. I don't think I care about Halo anymore.

Microsoft will never abandon it though, because for some reason Xbox fans seem to cling to it like it's the be all and end all of Xbox. Which is fine, I guess. But how long do people have to get hung up on Halo sticking around while being quite mediocre before enough is enough? It's not like 343 Indus... sorry, Halo Studios, has done a good job of shepherding the franchise so far.

That turned into a ramble. 🤣

@Fiendish-Beaver idle mode will still kick in after a certain amount of time.

I thought you were asking what was the point in idle mode in general.

Can't wait for that x-ray kill-cam to show those testicles popping at 4K/60 🤤

@Fiendish-Beaver to prevent screen burn, especially on OLED displays, while keeping the console on. You could just, y'know, turn the console and/or TV off, but I suppose sometimes life happens - you get pulled away from the console for longer than expected or whatever - so it's a good feature to have.

I'm not expecting a shadow drop. I don't think that Xbox releasing Hi-Fi Rush like an RKO set any sort of precedent; in fact, I find it weird that people assume that it did.

@OldGamer999 South of Midnight won't get shadow dropped. If I'm wrong and it does, you get to pick my punishment.

@TeiGekiLord I specifically only listed the Nintendo owned companies that develop software.

@TeiGekiLord That's wildly inaccurate. Nintendo has Nintendo EPD, Nintendo ST, Retro Studios, Shiver Entertainment, SRD, 1-Up Studio, Monolith Soft and Mario Club (which handles testing, QA and debugging). Plus they also farm out a lot of development to external companies; Arika, Bandai Namco Studios, Camelot, Creatures, Good-Feel, Grezzo, HAL Laboratory, Sora Ltd, Intelligent Systems, MercurySteam, to name just a few.

I'd also like to point out the hypocrisy in people - be that players or those writing for publications - singing the praises of cross-play when it was in its infancy (back when Epic was "accidentally" turning it on in Fortnite and Sony was steadfast in its reluctance to allow it) and now it's basically an industry standard, they want to lock out one of the platforms.

@Reptilio SA2 has its moments; the Sonic/Shadow sections are mostly alright and the Knuckles/Rouge sections aren't unbearable.

SA1 is terrible.

Control input is the last thing you should be concerned about in regards to what advantages PC players have over console players. Modding? Hacking? Aimbots? Them using a keyboard and mouse (which you're also free to do on console) is almost a non-issue in comparison.

Oh no. How many of those buyers are people who've never played Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 before? Those poor unsuspecting fools.

Breaking: it's Hi-Fi Rush 2.

If Call of Duty, Avowed, Doom, Fable, Towerborn, South of Midnight and The Outer Worlds 2 all release in 2025, surely that's your lot, right? People have lamented the relative lack of first-party games this gen, but you can go too far in the other direction. Leave some stuff for 2026 and beyond.

@cragis0001 he's a melt. He doesn't know anything about anything.

@cragis0001 Jez Corden, not James. Jez might not know anything and be desperate to be seen as some sort of industry insider, but even he isn't as insufferable as James Corden. 🤣

@RBRTMNZ who could resist the allure of the mystery box?

@Ricky-Spanish

It's like giving your neighbour a go with your misses just because your a nice guy!

Hey, no kink shaming please.

So all those years of publishers and media outlets throwing the term "Halo killer" around were for naught?

"Ok, so we remade the first House of the Dead, which was received less than favourably because of the lack of proper lightgun support. What's next?"

"Remake... House of the Dead 2 without proper lightgun support?"

"I love it! Give that man a raise!"

They don't mention it being an Xbox, ABK or Zenimax studio. My money's on something third-party. Let's say from... Square Enix.

@16BitHero it's about time we had some Contraband anything.

@TeiGekiLord when I had a Series X, I very quickly stopped using Quick Resume. Like you said, it regularly causes glitches. Also, if the game requires an online connection, when you resume it'll have lost connection while in sleep and just boot you back out to the title screen when you return anyway.

@Kezelpaso I'm not sure if Forza Horizon 5 being the next Xbox game to be ported to PS5 is a good call. On paper, yes, port it over and reap the benefits. However, is it worth porting over a game that'll inevitably be delisted from digital storefronts in a few years? For context:

Forza Horizon - released 2012, delisted 2016
Forza Horizon 2 - released 2014, delisted 2018
Forza Horizon 3 - released 2016, delisted 2020
Forza Horizon 4 - released 2018, delisted 2024

Forza Horizon 5 released in 2021 so, going by the past trend, we can probably expect it to be delisted this year at the earliest, 2027 at the latest.

This is why Xbox only sporadically puts out physical games and why companies like Limited Run games a) exist in the first place, and b) rarely, if ever, put out Xbox versions of games. The market just isn't there like it used to be. The vocal minority will die on the hill that physical games still matter, but they don't. The market has largely accepted the digital-only dystopia that that aforementioned vocal minority likes to bemoan.

@InvaderFromSpace it's less an issue of where they're playing and more a case of gross exaggeration.

That has to include marketing though, right?

I feel bad for the people looking forward to Skate. I never liked them back in the day, but I know a lot of people did and were buzzin' when EA announced they were finally doing another one. But it's a live-service free-to-play game by EA.

A live-service free-to-play game. By EA.

I'm not sure that's sunk in for a lot of people yet.

@Eightoheight Paradise looks like the next The Day Before. That any outlet is reporting on it in any way other than to either warn people about it or take the piss out of it is a joke.

I like to think (hope) that Bumblebee - Search for Happiness is a Transformers game. Like a cozy life sim where you play as Bumblebee.

My wife literally asked me 20 minutes ago if Rewards was working on my app. It is, but not on hers. This would explain it.

I would settle for 2025 being the year we just see what Everwild actually is. If Xbox hits this year with what it claims, that's a banger of a year already.

Tales of the Shire: A Lord of the Rings Game is actually called Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game.

I'm most excited to play DOOM: The Dark Ages, even if I am a little apprehensive regarding its setting.

I'm not a fan of Fable or The Outer Worlds; my wife, however, is very much a fan of both, so I hope both Fable and The Outer Worlds 2 turn out well.

@Secryt

I think diehard console Xbox fans had the worst year in the franchise's history.

Diehard console fans think they had the worst year in Xbox history, but the reality is that these are the sorts of people who actually know jack s**t. Be a fan of a company's games by all means, but don't get hung up on whether owners of another box can play the games you think should be exclusive to your favourite box.

Edit: reading this back, it sounds like I'm directing this at you specifically, which I'm not. I'm directing it at "Xbox fans".

@Ricky-Spanish in RoboCop, make sure you shoot a guy in the peen for an achievement!

Right, we're off to eat a Patagotitan's hypothesised weight in sweets.

The dinosaur nerd in me loves this.

@Titntin of course I'm right. I'm always right*.

*Disclaimer: Markatron84 may not always be right.

Just one. When I still had Game Pass, my niece was playing Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay. I bought it when I got rid of GP because she was super into it.

@Vordus I have no interest in Veilguard 🤣 Outlaws I may look into in a sale down the line. To be honest, I play very few newly released games nowadays; I've gotten to the point where I'm happy to wait months, if not years, to play something. The only games released in 2024 I can recall playing are Thank Goodness You're Here! (because my wife bought it day one), Helldivers 2 and the free trial of Black Ops 6.

@Vordus I haven't played either, but I feel like Star Wars Outlaws and Dragon Age: The Veilguard will both be remembered and spoken about more fondly as time goes on. Nine times out of ten in gaming, the vocal minority makes things out to be far worse than they actually are, while you hear next to nothing from the majority because they're just playing games and enjoying them.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. May we all eat our own body weight in food.

@themcnoisy while I appreciate the history lesson, I lived it already 😉

@GeeEssEff

*I meant games with gold

Ah ok 🙂
Enjoy your time with your family. Merry Christmas.

@GeeEssEff Xbox Live Gold launched with Xbox 360 in 2005.

@FraserG it's time for another installment of Markatron84's Super Happy Feedback and/or Question Fun Time™!

I like this new "reply" button. Makes it super easy to make you aware of the newest installment of Markatron84's Super Happy Feedback and/or Question Fun Time™!

@Ricky-Spanish I turned 40 today. I might very well be 50 by the time The Elder Scrolls VI comes out 🤣

@PSDeckSwitchOwner SUPPORT MICROSOFT AND OTHER SMALL LOCAL BUSINESSES.

Wouldn't it be just awful if a big company acquired another big company? Microsoft would never do that.

@Elbow It's f**king fantastic in its ludicrousness, I love it.

@Elbow dude's bionic arm is his dead wife. Wild.

@Ilyn Todd Howard resents that remark.

Also, can we all agree that nobody really gives a sh*t about anything Jeremy Corden has to say? He's the patron saint of heresay. Let's stop giving him the publicity and let's certainly stop giving him any credit for having any kind of insider information.